Murder Suspect Is Returned To County

Murder suspect Ontra Jones, arrested Monday night in a tiny Georgia town, was returned to the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday afternoon, his wrists handcuffed and his legs bound with chain.

Jones, who escaped Jan. 3 from the Palm Beach County Stockade while awaiting trial in the torching death of West Palm Beach pawnshop clerk Robert Hansen, climbed off a twin-engine plane surrounded by plainclothes sheriff`s deputies.

As Jones neared an unmarked squad car, he called, ``Can I say something?`` to reporters, but was pressed inside the car by deputies.

Prison Director Jerry Toles said Jones, 21, would be confined to a one-man maximum-security cell at the jail.

Jones escaped from the stockade off Southern Boulevard by scaling two 10-foot barbed-wire fences and then disappearing into thick woods. Sheriff`s officials have said it was a mistake to move Jones to the stockade, instead of keeping him at the jail.

Monday, FBI agents surrounded Jones at a trailer park in Ambrose, Ga., population 360, and captured him after a brief chase.

Hansen, 59, died Jan. 4, 1984, after two men -- allegedly intent on robbery -- entered the 505 Pawn and Swap Shop where he worked, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.

Kevin Nelms, 17, was convicted of first-degree murder in the case last Friday.